Late morning, Pennisi's Deli in Sacramento California. The hostess, Thea patiently guards the front door in case of customers.

Animus walks up to the front door, still a little surprised by the phone call. He hadn't heard from Ruby in months. Still, it was good to be meeting with her again, even if it did remind him of how much had changed recently. He asks for a table for two and waits patiently for Ruby to arrive.

Ruby arrives scant moments after, and after a moment's scan of the deli catches sight of Animus. "Oh my goodness. There you are... how are you?"

Animus breaks into a wide grin. "I've been doing well enough. Even managed to swing a position on Council." Then he pauses, suddenly realizing just how much Ruby will have to catch up on. "So much is different from when you left, it's hard to know where to start."

Months of dead ends and false leads, maybe it was time to start moving on. Ruby wraps Animus with a tight hug that is filled with a shared sense of both trust and loss. She slides into the booth across from him. "Then just tell me everything. I want to hear it."

Animus returns the hug in kind, although he feels a slight separation, as if the weight of the preceeding months was coming between them. Finally pulling back, he takes a quick glance around the restaurant, noting that the place is relatively empty. He drops his voice a bit anyway, making sure it won't carry much past their own table.

"The Living Stones finally collapsed several months ago when Joshua left. Then we had a Consilium meeting back in February that shook everything up. Dr. Primoria proposed that we return to choosing Councilors by Path, and almost everyone spoke in favor." He shrugs. "I'm not sure if the Councilors grew tired of the positions, or what, but it was nearly a complete turnover."

Ruby listens intently, but in a quick movement with her hands nimbly plucks a few decibels from their conversation and pockets them. Hobbled, Animus' words carry not much further than the boundaries of the table.

Ruby freezes for a brief moment when Animus mentions that Joshua is no longer in Sacramento. She doesn't mention it when she responds. "Well that's just a bit unusual. Why would they do that?"

Animus relaxes a bit as Ruby damps the sound around them, but then sighs slightly at her question. The question echoes his own slight doubt, that just maybe he had been wrong to back the change.

"It's a bit complicated. Somehow Andrade recruited John Dee for the Ladder and set him up as a Lictor. I think the Curator's move may have been partially retaliation for that, but I went along with it because I think it has other advantages. Having Councilors represent their Orders was a break with tradition, and, honestly, I think it may have given Order politics too prominant a role in workings of the Consilium itself."

"The Heirarch did WHAT?" Realizing that a defection to the Ladder is not a topic to get riled up over in Animus' company, Ruby lets it go. "Well... I suppose that'd do well to get everyone workin' together. Who are the Councilors then?"

Animus grins slightly at Ruby's reaction. "I was surprised, too, when I found out what had happened. Still not sure what to make of it." In truth, it was more John Dee's actions afterwards that had troubled him, but he'd rather not spread gossip against the Provost. He quickly moves on.

"There's myself, obviously. Jack Falley represents the Acanthus and Eclipse the Mastigos. The other two you might not know: Ash of the Moros and Spade of the Obrimos."

Ruby bursts into a sparkling smile excited and proud, edging on the verge of a gleeful squeal. "What do you mean obviously, you big goof??? That's wonderful!" Jack's name rings an alarm bell, surely not the neonate she'd met in the museum just a few months ago?

"Look at you, bein' all modest."

Animus flinches at Ruby's outburst, suddenly thankful that she had had the foresight to damp the sound around them. Maybe his earlier reference had been too veiled. "Sorry, thought I mentioned it earlier. Hey, do you remember the Ley Line investigations?"

"Think I set a few of the neonates on that one... as I recall it matched up to the ley map that Theo charted." Another life lost. "Have y'all moved to take the cross roads yet?"

"I don't know what all has been mapped, but one of the largest cross roads is at the Tower Bridge. And quite a bit of its energy is diverted to power a spell that we think is supposed to create a pathway for the Abyss." He lets that statement hang in the air for a bit. Surely Ruby remembered Discovery Park.

"Well..." Ruby is silent a moment, and her fingers wring her coffee in a pensive half turn. "Sounds like someone should do something about that then." There is some measure of concern that someone is going to include them.

"Everyone's scrambling to try to figure out how to stop it. And we know what we're up against, because in some sense it ... already happened? Could have happened?" He's clearly struggling for words that fit. Finally he shakes his head, seeming to give up on the effort.

"It's almost like it already triggered, but in some other reality. I'm sorry, there's just no easy way to explain it. We discovered during the Consilium meeting that many of us have vague impressions that can't be explained easily. An uneasy feeling around certain people, things like that. Councilor Spade fully experienced the other reality, as a dream."

His expression turns deadly serious. "In this other ... timeline, the bridge's activation led to the destruction, or near-destruction, of the entire Consilium." It's like the time before the Obelisks all over again.

"Sounds like a fancy way of sayin': Didn't, Isn't" Ruby replies quietly with the plainness of Iron. "I don't know what's in the water that makes so many of these fools itch so hard for the end of days, they all get killt when they try. Dumb as rocks, twice as dumb for their wickedness."

Animus shrugs. "It has people understandably on edge, though." Then he decides it would be best to change the topic. "If you want the Sanctum, it's yours. I hardly ever get out there anymore."

It's a generous gesture. A hallow is not easy to come by. But, "I couldn't hold it by myself. Might make sense to shutter it for a little while. Till' I get settled in again anyway."

Animus nods. "I've held onto it this long; I can keep it up a bit longer. It just seems a shame to have a place like that and have so little use for it. That and it always feels ... empty now. Too many memories of people that are gone."

"Come visit by the shop sometime."

Animus looks a bit confused. "Shop?"

Ruby was sure she'd mentioned her studio before, but aside from Phrymides and Jordan none of the others had been there before and few really knew of the place. "My studio? It's out near Greenfield Park, just off Broadway."

And then it comes back to him. They'd met there once before, just before Ruby had started on the Bismark investigation. "Okay, I remember now. I'll be sure to."

Finished sandwiches signal the end of their brief reunion. Ruby collects her purse, the signal that she's preparing to go. "We'll be in touch?"

"Of course." Animus stands as well, leaving enough bills on the table to cover his meal as well as a tip.